334 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



fully round and round the hook, so as to make one round, even, 

 shining body of floss silk. Simple as this may seem, it is not 

 easy to turn out a first-rate silk body. The body should grad- 

 ually, but imperceptibly, increase a little in thickness towards 

 the shoulders ; when it reaches the tying silk tie off the floss 

 and then lay on the tinsel, which should be wound on in good 

 bold spiral rings up to the shoulder, where that also is tied off 

 (Fig. 5). -Next comes the hackle, and that is wound on, 

 following the course of the tinsel, and lying side by side with it 

 (on the upper side of the tinsel, of course). Tie the hackle off, 

 and then pass the silk round tightly four or five times, and 

 finish with a hitch (Fig. 6) . Touch the silk with varnish to keep 

 all secure, and lay the fly aside until dry, when the hackle can 

 be pressed down into its place, and the wing can subsequently 

 be tied on as in Fig. 7. 



At this stage it often occurs that another hackle is used, and 

 two or three turns of a different colour are employed to add 

 contrast to the fly. The length of the fibres must here be 

 attended to : these must be properly matched, and if the fibres 

 of the lower part of the supplementary hackle be too short, 

 they must, of course, be broken off. A piece of hackle sufficient 

 for the purpose is then tied in, two or three turns are taken, 

 and it is fastened off, and touched with varnish as before 

 mentioned. 



If two or more hackles be required/, either to thicken the 

 hackling or to give variety of colour to^the fly, the best plan 

 will be to tie them in to their respective places while lashing on 

 the gut ; separate pieces of silk might subsequently be used, 

 but the more work you can get out of the single strand the 

 better, and the less bulky and clumsy the fly will be. Be sure, 

 however, where a junction of hackles is to be effected, to 

 carefully compare the length of the fibres, so that the hackling 

 may graduate properly. To this end the fine point of the second 

 hackle for some distance will have to be eschewed. But all this 

 the fly tyer will discover after a failure or two. 



And now as to the putting on of a hackle. There are various 

 methods adopted. First, if the hackle be not wanted very 

 thickly on the fly, one side is stripped off, as is described in the 

 directions to the trout flies. Take care you strip off the right 

 side is a caution I must repeat. To make a hackle lie 

 very neatly and^well upon the fly, it is best to prepare it as is 

 also described in'the direction for tying trout flies. Sometimes, 

 though not often, two hackles of a different colour are used at 



